Chapter 19 #2
There was another question, too. Something that had eaten away at her since it happened.
Why did she push Elias out of Mason’s reach?
She’d acted without thinking. But why had her first instinct been to save Elias?
There were two acceptable answers: one, she loathed violence and was such a benevolent person that she would have shoved anyone out of the way of her brother’s fist—even someone as awful as Elias; two, the push was a carefully crafted move that played into her scheme to pretend to become his friend.
Unfortunately, Charlie knew neither were correct.
So, where did that leave her?
She stood in the middle of the parking lot, chewing anxiously on her bottom lip, holding on to the same bucket she had for the past five minutes.
“You okay?”
She startled, the bucket slipping from her hands. It clattered to the pavement, rolling in a lopsided circle around itself.
“Gods.” She put a hand to her chest, turning to face Elias. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “Force of habit, I guess.”
“Yes, I suppose it is your primal instinct. Can’t blame the shark for eating the cute little dolphin when that’s what it was born to do.”
His eyes brightened, and he threw up a finger as if he’d just made a great discovery. “Exactly! I’m as innocent as a shark!”
She laughed. “I don’t think that came off the way you wanted it to.”
For a moment, he looked shocked by her laughter, but his shock quickly morphed into delight. “Well, well.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest, dirty rag flopping over one elbow. “She does remember how to have fun.”
Rolling her eyes, Charlie bent over to retrieve the fallen bucket. “Of course I do. I have plenty of fun.”
“Is that so?” Elias quirked an eyebrow. “When’s the last time you went to a party?”
“Uh.” She scanned her memory, trying to come up with something. “Well, there was…” Her voice trailed off.
“It was homecoming,” he filled in. “Right?”
“No,” she said quickly. “There was definitely…”
Elias waited, one foot tapping infuriatingly.
“Okay, fine,” she snapped. “It was homecoming. But that was only three weeks ago!”
“Only three weeks, she says.” He tutted, shaking his head. “Not to mention that homecoming barely counts. You didn’t even make it to the after-party.”
Charlie shoved him lightly. “And whose fault was that?”
Grinning, he caught her wrist, holding it in his warm grasp. Charlie inhaled. His touch sent sparks dancing down her arm.
“Okay. Guilty as charged,” he said. His smile faded, and he tilted his head. “Well, if your obvious lack of fun isn’t plaguing you, what is?”
Charlie’s chest felt tight. The feel of Elias’s skin on hers and the intensity with which he was studying her was making it hard to breathe. “What do you mean, plaguing me?”
“Oh, come on. You’ve been moping around this parking lot the last fifteen minutes, barely paying attention to what you’re doing.” Smirking, he released her wrist, and she could barely hold in her exhale. “Even Henry is feeling your bad mood.”
She looked down at her v?tte, eyes wide. “Is that true?”
Henry nodded solemnly.
Charlie groaned. “Fine. I’ll cheer up.”
“I’m not asking you to cheer up, Charlotte. I’m asking you to tell me what’s on your mind.”
She blinked, startled. That didn’t sound like something Elias would say. That sounded like something someone who genuinely cared about her would say.
He must have had the same realization. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said quickly. “I just meant…” Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. “It … bothers me. When I can’t tell what you’re thinking.”
“It bothers you?”
“Yes,” he said impatiently. “Now, can you please just answer the godsdamned question?”
Charlie hesitated, weighing her answer. She could tell him the truth. Could tell him exactly how much it unnerved her when she jumped right to his defense, shoving him out of Mason’s reach even when she knew her brother’s fist would barely have made a dent in Elias’s inhumanly resilient being.
Or … she could give him half the truth. Could share something that really was weighing on her mind, even if she hadn’t been thinking about it then.
“It’s … Mason.” She sighed. “You were right this morning. There is a lot of tension between us right now. And in a way, I’m afraid. But not of him. I’m afraid that … after everything that’s happened … after I didn’t tell him about Sophie still being alive…”
“You’re afraid that he’ll never forgive you,” he filled in.
Charlie nodded, pressing her lips together.
If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that she saw Elias’s eyes soften. As if he knew exactly what she meant. But that couldn’t be right—whose forgiveness could he possibly be waiting for?
“Look,” he said, giving her a half smile. “I may not know much about human emotion anymore, but I know this: Mason is going to forgive you. He probably already has but is too stubborn to admit it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know what it’s like to be an older brother,” he said, eyeing her meaningfully. “And an older brother would do anything for his little sister. Even when she annoys the Hel out of him most of the time.”
Olive. He was talking about Olive, the little sister he gave up his humanity for.
A lump formed in Charlie’s throat. Her eyes stung, and she was suddenly terrified that she was about to cry in front of Elias.
She cleared her throat, looking away. Her eyes landed on the equipment shed.
Its front door was postered with twice as many flyers as it had been the week before.
There were the old ones—the MISSING flyers for Robbie, Maisie, and the Peterson twins.
But several new posters had appeared in the last two days.
Some advertised the town-wide memorial being held for the Morris and Fields children this coming Saturday.
Some bore lists of safety tips that the school had already repeated on multiple occasions, like never accepting rides from strangers.
And some were bright orange papers with stark black letters that said, NEW TOWN-WIDE CURFEW: 9:30 PM.
It was a depressing collection of flyers. And if Charlie didn’t find the person controlling Rattatosk, there would only be more. More posters, more search parties, more town-wide memorials.
More dead children.
But this time, it would be her fault. Her and Mason’s. Human targets, threats for no reason other than being born.
But threats to whom? Which of the few joturri left wanted her and Mason dead? Could it be someone Loki had once angered? It wasn’t unlikely, given the god of mischief’s long history of screwing people over.
She needed to stop Rattatosk before he struck again. And the only way she knew how was a scheme so outlandish she didn’t even think it would work. Unfortunately, she was out of options.
“Elias,” Charlie said suddenly, looking back at him.
He tilted his head. “Yes?”
She stared at him for several seconds. It felt as if by saying these words aloud, she was stepping off a ledge. Dropping into free fall.
Don’t be ridiculous, she reminded herself. This has nothing to do with him. This is about saving innocent lives.
“I’ll do it,” she said at last. “I’ll train with you. I’ll try to see if I can access my magic.”
Elias’s eyebrows jumped with surprise. Then his lips spread into a smile. “A wise choice, Charlotte. You won’t regret it.”
But as she hauled another bucket over to the bleachers, she had a feeling that he was wrong. She had a feeling that she would regret this decision very, very much.